2014 ACUI National Collegiate 9-ball Tournament - THIS WEEKEND!

Benward452

Benward452

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
http://www.acui.org/billiards/

The ACUI National Collegiate 9-ball Tournament is this weekend at Virginia Tech on 16 Gold Crown III's and V's. Play will begin Friday, May 30th at 10am and matches will finish up on Saturday, May 31st.

Both the men's and women's tournaments are true double elimination with the men racing to 8 and the women racing to 7. There are 16 women competitors and 50 men.

These are all tremendous players. They have qualified to play in this tournament by placing in the top 25% of their qualifying tournament hosted earlier this year.

Wish everyone luck!

Below is a list of competitors.

Women
Katelyn Thornton Ferris State University
Giovanni Aviles University of Illinois–Chicago
Laura Bozarth Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville
Jenny Coalson Darton College
Andrea Flores
Aislinn McCann Virginia Tech
Briana Miller Lindenwood University
Judith Myhand University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Minh-Phuong Nguyen University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Anna Nord
Valerie Robles University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Stacyann Rubio Florida International University
Jacqueline Sanchez Florida State University
Cara Sarver Virginia Tech
Karina Skrypnyk University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Rebbecca Weber University of North Carolina–Charlotte

Men
Jason Allred Utah State University
David Anderson University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Skyler Banfill West Virginia University
Bryson Bonham Virginia Tech
Touy Bouapha Madison Area Technical College
Robert Briggs Darton College
Colin Brumm Madison Area Technical College
Logan Brummitt University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Tommy Chen Harvard College
Braxton Coleman Radford University
William DeShong Virginia Tech
Jesse Deweerth Virginia Tech
Chris Fisher Radford University
Jacob Gottshalk West Virginia University
Jonathan Grubb Virginia Tech
Nicholas Henkes West Virginia University
Jaydan Hergott Lindenwood University
Carter Herrmann California State University–Sacramento
William Hill East Texas Baptist University
Dustin Hoffman West Virginia University
Kevin Hsiao University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Awais Hussain Harvard College
Khoi Huynh Virginia Commonwealth University
Joseph Kubalak Virginia Tech
jiawei ma
Scott Maloney University of Wyoming
George Mansour University of Akron
Brian Marquez Virginia Commonwealth University
Steven McHenry West Virginia University
Zachary McKee University of Akron
Neight Mindham University of Wisconsin–Madison
Derek Morris Georgia Institute of Technology
Hesam Mosharraf Portland Community College
Thomas Mwogi Indiana University-Purdue University–Indianapolis
Lee Nathanson University of Maryland
Dan Otto Lindenwood University
Sharik Sayed Lindenwood University
Dillon Scheive California State University–Sacramento
Wei Shen (Winstone) Seow University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Landon Shuffett Lindenwood University
Stephen Skvarka Virginia Tech
Sean Sommers Lindenwood University
Adam Song Virginia Tech
Sean Stafford Radford University
William Stem University of Maryland
Nathan Sweitzer West Virginia University
Cody Terry University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Philip Walker University of North Carolina–Pembroke
AJ Washburn Purdue University
Dennis Xue University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Mark Yaconetti University of North Carolina–Charlotte

UPDATE!

Link to the completed women's bracket:
http://www.azbilliards.com/tours_and...-ladies-event/

Link to the completed men's bracket:
http://www.azbilliards.com/tours_and...65-mens-event/

The top three women were:
1st: Brianna Miller - Lindenwood University
2nd: Annie Nord
3rd: Jackie Sanchez - Florida State University

The top three men were:
1st: Landon Shuffett - Lindenwood University
2nd: David Anderson - University North Carolina - Charlotte
3rd: Sharik Sayed - Lindenwood University

Women's Sportsmanship
Stacey-Ann Rubio - Florida International University

Men's Sportsmanship
Cody Terry - University North Carolina - Charlotte

Men's Break Contest
Brian Marquez - Virginia Commonwealth University

Women's Break Contest
Stacey-Ann Rubio - Florida International University

All of the players this weekend showed superb sportsmanship and wonderful play. Thank you to everyone that joined us at Virginia Tech!
 
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ACUI is a joke now!! It used to be organized so that every region was represented equally. Look at the womens tournament?? Half of the women are from Charlotte...what is that about. Then there are 50 men? Over half the men are from Virginia. What happened...it used to be a legitimate national tournament.
 
ABall said:
ACUI is a joke now!! It used to be organized so that every region was represented equally. Look at the womens tournament?? Half of the women are from Charlotte...what is that about. Then there are 50 men? Over half the men are from Virginia. What happened...it used to be a legitimate national tournament.
Click to expand...

Dear ABall.

I have volunteered my time at both Regional (West Coast qualifiers) and National ACUI tournaments,
and just like any other pool event it has evolved. Yes, student participation rates have changed
over the years, with the result that the numbers are not as consistent anymore across our nation.

Some schools have been hard-pressed to even have one or two players for participation.
As you know our students have found other forms of entertainment,
yet there are still areas where pool is maintaining its foothold.
This tournament is a long-standing event (I think over 50 years at least),
and still maintains its format-integrity.

If you feel this tournament is a joke, that is quite disappointing for you to say.
I hope that is based on more than seeing a single player list from your PC, sir.
 
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I competed in the 2001 ACUI nactionals. I have run the mens region 15 tournament at UC Davis and down south at one of the Cal state schools. I know how good the ACUI tournament used to be, I also know how hard it used to be to qualify for the national tournament that had only 16 spots. All it takes is one glance at that list to know that each of the 15 regions are not even close to being represented equally. If there is no equal representation, it's just a bunch of college players playing a tournament with a bogus name and a bogus title.
 
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ABall said:
I competed in the 2001 ACUI nactionals. I have run the mens region 15 tournament at UC Davis and down south at one of the Cal state schools. I know how good the ACUI tournament used to be, I also know how hard it used to be to qualify for the national tournament that had only 16 spots. All it takes is one glance at that list to know that each of the 15 regions are not even close to being represented equally. If there is no equal representation, it's just a bunch of college players playing a tournament with a bogus name and a bogus title.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply ABall.

If a school doesn't have any pool players we certainly can't expect that school to be represented.
My feeling is that more players at Nationals simply means the better players will rise to the top
anyways.
Instead of playing most of their competition at the school and regional level, they end of playing
that competition, en mass, at nationals.

It's tough, ABall. Betsy Sundholm has done a wonderful job over the years.
She has certainly had to adjust to the ever-changing dynamics of the tournament.
I feel the competition is still there.
If most of the real players are coming from a more concentrated area then so be it.
Those schools that "send" one or two lesser players to nationals are going to be "dead" entries anyways—
no disrespect to any particular school or player.

So my question to you is:
How would you recommend schools entice its students to enter a regional
tournament for those Student Rec Centers with nary a pool table?
 
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When I was at South Dakota State in 1987 through 1992, the director of the game room area had an interest in pool and did a great job with sending 6 men and 1 or 2 women to the regional tournament. We had 8 9 foot tables and two snooker tables. Table time was less than $2 per hour and the tables saw lots of activity. There were 5 or 6 tournaments each semester with a full 32 bracket on most of them. My best finish at the regional was 3rd, and I made it to the final 8 each year.

A contrast to this was at the University of SD where I finished an Accounting degree. I was not eligible to play, but still was interested in pool. The school had one table and I did not see anyone play on it.

The point is that it takes someone with an interest in promoting pool for a school to be represented well. I am guessing no one even knew about the ACUI at USD.
 
I was at sd state 82-87 and yes it was great for pool/ ACUI.
Now I am back in Brookings and there is only 1 barbox in the union.
No plaques or trophies from ACUI events displayed either.

Director of the game room,the late Paul Weiland, had men and womens pool
players.8 ball at the time.
Also table-tennis,bowling,and quiz bowl.All went to regionals.
Paul and myself taught a course in pocket billiards. Union by-laws said no
classes in union so we lectured/ tested in classrooms elsewhere, and "played"
in the union.
 
Requirements

Just out of curiosity, how do players qualify? Is there some kind of point system from playing in tournaments?
 
So they no longer hold a regional where you have to win it to get to nationals?
 
RFranklin said:
Just out of curiosity, how do players qualify? Is there some kind of point system from playing in tournaments?
Click to expand...

At SDSU, the top six men at a qualifying tournament went to the Regional (and had to have a GPA above 2.0). I don't think there was a number of credit requirement, just had to be a registered student. The school paid all travel and lodging. I don't remember if there were more than one woman that went along. The women's tournament was doing good to draw 8 players at the qualifier.

The other tournaments were $1 entry fee and paid the top three spots $30, $20 & $10, regardless of the number of players.

Alphadog, I saw that you were back in town. I am glad you left, it gave me a chance to step into the best team in the league and go with them to Vegas.
 
Back when I was in college....you know shortly after the mastodons died off and the wheel was being perfected... to get to the national event you had to win the regional. It was pretty tough to get to the big show. At the first regional I played in (california/oregon/washington state I think) while going to undergrad at Cal-Berkeley, the mens division was huge, so they split the tournament into 16 groups of 6 for a round robin which ended in a single elimination final day board of 16. It was pretty rough because since the round robin divisions had six players and only one advanced, you basically had to go undefeated to win your round robin division or they got into a complicated match score formula if there was a tie. Every game counted. I lost double hill to the guy who won the bracket undefeated and I was sent home with a 4-1 record and a handshake. The guy who won that year beat out 96 players to get to nationals.

Then the second year I played regionals it was a more traditional double elimination format. You had to win the event to get to the final 16 man national tournament, there was no top 25%. Top 25% was what they did at the individual University event where the qualifier was held to decide who would represent the school at regionals. I was in grad school at University of Florida at the time and in my regional I had to beat Paul Turner in what was basically his home court venue at the University of Georgia. After beating that guy I felt like I had already climbed over Mount Everest.

Im confident that this years event has fantastic players in it, but it does seem like getting to the national event is a heckuva alot easier than in years past. My buddy in Miami Raymond Linares sure wishes he was still eligible to play this year. Good luck to all the contestants!
 
alphadog said:
I was at sd state 82-87 and yes it was great for pool/ ACUI.
Now I am back in Brookings and there is only 1 barbox in the union.
No plaques or trophies from ACUI events displayed either.

Director of the game room,the late Paul Weiland, had men and womens pool
players.8 ball at the time.
Also table-tennis,bowling,and quiz bowl.All went to regionals.
Paul and myself taught a course in pocket billiards. Union by-laws said no
classes in union so we lectured/ tested in classrooms elsewhere, and "played"
in the union.
Click to expand...

I went back to the gameroom a couple years later and was glad that the changes did not happen while I was there.

I "taught" the billiards class for three semesters. There were only a couple students that were interested in playing the game better. It was just a easy A and chance to play pool for most. One girl did ask me how the pros hold their cue. I started to demonstrate a good bridge when she interrupted and said "No, I want to know how they hold their cue when they walk around the table"

There was a requirement that all instructors have a masters degree, so the free table time compensation was done for me. I took the class for the PE credit the next semester. Paul would prefer to be somewhere else during that time and have me take roll and be there for the class period.
 
ABall said:
ACUI is a joke now!! It used to be organized so that every region was represented equally. Look at the womens tournament?? Half of the women are from Charlotte...what is that about. Then there are 50 men? Over half the men are from Virginia. What happened...it used to be a legitimate national tournament.
Click to expand...

Some schools don't provide funding, so if a student isn't rich, wasting $700 for a cross-country trip to win a $1000-1500 scholarship isn't really great odds for your money. I know it's prestigious, just like playing in the U.S. Amateurs, but sometimes it's financially impossible to make something like this happen. Obviously there are going to be more participants from the locations that are nearest to the host college.

mrinsatiable said:
Good luck to all participating...

My money is on Landon Shuffett -Lindenwood University.
Click to expand...

Most definitely. Or Sharik Sayed, who also attends Lindenwood. He played for (Singapore?) in the World Cup of Pool and is a pretty sporty player himself.

RFranklin said:
Just out of curiosity, how do players qualify? Is there some kind of point system from playing in tournaments?
Click to expand...

ACUI is split up into many regions, all of which normally host a regional tournament. In past years, they took the top 1/8th (12.5%) of the field and that's how you qualified for nationals. I graduated last year, but when I went to Tempe/Phoenix, there were just as many students. Like I stated above, it really all depends on the host location. It's tough for someone to travel across the U.S. if your school doesn't really help fund it.

uwate said:
So they no longer hold a regional where you have to win it to get to nationals?
Click to expand...

Nope. Now you qualify if you finish in the top 25% of the field.


Thanks for posting this, Ben. I'm glad there will be at least some publicity on this.
 
I am not very familiar with the ACUI tournament. However, I always assumed that it was to crown the very best collegiate players in the country.

Should it surprise me that there are APA 3's playing in this?
 
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A lot of good memories. I was the eastern regional runner-up in 1979-80, although back then the game was straight pool.

I recall watching Fran Crimi win the Eastern Regional in the women's division in 1977. As we all know, Fran went on to be a highly successful professional player and has long been a highly respected instructor.

I also remember watching Todd Fleitman winning the men's division in 1978. Todd is now one of the directors of the highly successful Tri-State 9-ball Tour, and I had the pleasure of seeing him at the Ginky Memorial this past weekend.

Those were the days. Good luck to all at the ACUI Championships.
 
Two of Mark Wilson's students from Lindenwood won the men's and women's division, Briana Miller and Landon Shuffett.
 
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Link to the completed women's bracket:
http://www.azbilliards.com/tours_an...e-championship-2014/brackets/64-ladies-event/

Link to the completed men's bracket:
http://www.azbilliards.com/tours_an...ate-championship-2014/brackets/65-mens-event/

The top three women were:
1st: Brianna Miller - Lindenwood University
2nd: Annie Nord
3rd: Jackie Sanchez - Florida State University

The top three men were:
1st: Landon Shuffett - Lindenwood University
2nd: David Anderson - University North Carolina - Charlotte
3rd: Sharik Sayed - Lindenwood University

Women's Sportsmanship
Stacey-Ann Rubio - Florida International University

Men's Sportsmanship
Cody Terry - University North Carolina - Charlotte

Men's Break Contest
Brian Marquez - Virginia Commonwealth University

Women's Break Contest
Stacey-Ann Rubio - Florida International University

All of the players this weekend showed superb sportsmanship and wonderful play. Thank you to everyone that joined us at Virginia Tech!
 
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